Sacco was assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 13th Armor at Fort Riley as a tanker. While in Iraq, he served as tank commander.

He enlisted in March 1996 and came to Fort Riley November 1997.

This was Sacco’s second deployment to Iraq.

Sacco enlisted in the Army in March 1996 and was based in Fort Riley, Kan. It was Sacco's second deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was scheduled to return home next month, said Louisa Testa of Latham, who was married to Sacco between 1996 and 1997.

While Sacco had talked of making the Army a career, Testa said that friends of his told her the birth of a child with his second wife, and seeing a close buddy from his unit killed recently had him looking forward to coming home. "I want to say between the fellow soldier being killed and having a new son, this was too much," said Testa.

While she hadn't spoken with Sacco in a while, she was aware of his doings through mutual friends. They met while high school students -- he at Albany High, she at Mohonasen High. Sacco leaves behind a wife, stepchild and son, as well as a sister, Lisa Sacco, who lives in the Albany area.

She could not be reached late Monday. Sacco graduated from Albany High School in 1991, and Mayor Jerry Jennings knew him from his days as a vice principal at the school. "I just knew him as a student at the high school, he and his sister," said Jennings. "They were nice kids from a nice family." "It's a tragedy and it puts things in perspective. Hopefully people will pray for the family."

Sacco's parents live in Florida, said Testa. She met Sacco through friends while they were in high school, and it was his decision to join the Army that got them married in 1996. A few years out of high school, and not having gone to college, Sacco figured the military could be a career, or it could provide a path to advancement.

Once he joined up and learned he would be stationed in Kansas, the couple decided to get married. Even starting out as a private, Sacco exhibited a willingness to do his job without complaining, said Testa. "He was one of the proudest soldiers," said Testa. "He just kind of got up every day and did what he did."